Today's Why Guy question from Jason: "Hey Walt, I operate light rail trains here. Maybe you can do a piece on why do people ignore the crossing arms? Had my first near fatality today because a guy rode his bike around the crossing arms and I hit him. Of course he was wearing headphones"
OK, wow. The light rail operator said the mishap occurred at 34th Street and Stockton Boulevard in Sacramento. So, we set up a stakeout at the crossing to watch for near-misses happen often, as Jason claims.
We were out there for a couple of hours and saw one vehicle that was unable to cross the tracks due to traffic stopped ahead. The driver got stuck in no-man’s land.
As one light rail was approaching, the vehicle's driver decided to stay put instead of backing up. The light rail narrowly missing clipping the front of the vehicle.
About 20 minutes later, there was a similar incident. A vehicle couldn’t cross the tracks because of the traffic stopped ahead at the red light. As the light rail was approaching, a vehicle attempted to back up to get out of the way and got whacked on the roof of the car by the railroad crossing arm.
Obviously not something that the Regional Transit agency wants to see happen.
"Travel by light rail is safe when everybody obeys the rules," said Jessica Gonzalez, Sac RT's spokesperson. "Whether on foot, bike or in a vehicle, it is illegal to go around lowered gates."
We watched video that we found from Houston about the challenges that light rail operators face there. People seemed to be oblivious to the fact that there are trains approaching. The trains, by the way, have the right of way.
Gonzalez said sometimes the issue is that people don't know how many trains are going by when the crossing arms are down."After a train has passed, a second train might be travelling from the opposite direction. That's why it's really important to make sure to never go around crossing arms."
The Sac RT light rail system has been rolling along since 1987 and has amassed a near spotless record when it comes to light rail versus pedestrian accident fault. Light rail operators can't stop on a dime despite their max speeds being only 55 mph. They’re reliant on people paying attention and obeying the laws.
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